Energy harvesting using dielectric elastomers

Abstract

Dielectric Elastomers are well known for there performance as actuators, but these materials can be used effectively as generators. Research on this field have received considerable attention lately, several prototypes were built like wavepower and human kinetic power generators. The focus of this paper is how the dielectric elastomer can be used as generator. The paper presents a dynamic model to calculate the capacitance of the electroactive polymer according to the external loading and investigates and compares several energy harvesting cycles based on the energy gain.